gms | German Medical Science

78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

16.05. - 20.05.2007, Munich

Wooden foreign body penetrating transorbital into the temporal lobe

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author Stephan Knipping - ENT, MLU Halle, Halle, Germany
  • Marcus Schoering - Neurosurgery, Halle, Germany
  • Christian Hohaus - Neurosurgery, Halle, Germany

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Munich, 16.-20.05.2007. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2007. Doc07hno105

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2007/07hno105.shtml

Published: August 8, 2007

© 2007 Knipping et al.
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Outline

Text

Transorbital penetration by foreign body is a rare but neither unusual injury.

We present a case of a 50 year old male patient with a penetration injury by a 15 cm long wooden foreign body transorbital into the temporal lobe. The piece of wood was removed by the patient himself. The initial CT scans showed the way of the foreign body right through the orbit into the temporal lobe. There was an intracerebral haemorrhage and small remnants of wood could be detected.

Surgical management in interdisciplinary cooperation consisted of a medial decompression of the orbit and the optic nerve by endonasal approach. Following the endonasal procedure a decompression of the temporal lobe by frontopterional craniotomy with removing the intracerebral pieces of the foreign body and the haemorrhage completely were carried out.

No reductions of the visual acuity or neurological deficits were presented after 6 month recovery.

CT scans are the method of choice for localization of foreign bodies. In cases of wood particles, sonography and MRI should be performed. To avoid inflammation, immediate removal of the wooden foreign body is recommended. The surgical team approach has to be chosen in accordance with the localization of the foreign body.